The copper deposits in Butembo, North Kivu, have just been acquired by the American company AFDG, in line with the economic cooperation agreement between Kinshasa and Washington.
African Discovery Group (AFDG) announces the signing of a definitive Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the Butembo Copper Asset in the Democratic Republic of Congo; changing its name to Copper Intelligence, Inc.
The transaction was signed in conjunction with a roundtable on strategic minerals held in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the launch of Project Vault by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, and with the participation of DRC President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, Aldo Cesano, Director of Copper Intelligence, and the first ministerial meeting on critical minerals organized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington.
The exploration license for this little-explored copper was held by Graben Mining, whose exploration fields are located in the Bashu region of Beni territory.
The copper recently discovered in this region had yielded promising and satisfactory results, according to the scientific data we have accessed.
It worth to note that the company conducting the first artisanal mining operations in the villages of Kavasewa, Kitheghe, and Kathihu (Bashu) .
The Bashu region has long been a chief of the extremist ADF rebellion, now affiliated with the Islamic State under the label ISCAP (Central Africa Province of Daesh) with Mughalika (Mwalika) as one of the largest bases of this group where new recruits were trained in indoctrination.
The Preliminary data from the Butembo copper prospect has yielded promising and satisfactory results, with high-quality oxidized copper ore found near the surface, with grades up to 18%.
The Butembo Copper project is a greenfield exploration project located in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, 40 km south of the provincial capital of Beni and 33 km west of the Ugandan border (Karuruma). It has verified road and rail access to the port of Mombasa in Kenya.
The area is generally underexplored compared to the well-known copper belts of the Katanga Copperbelt in southern DRC.
The Butembo copper deposit is a high-grade, near-surface oxidized copper ore with measured grades reaching up to 18%, extending to a depth and lateral extent of over 5 km. The project is located at the base of the Ruwenzori Mountains and borders Virunga National Park. Extensive artisanal mining of copper and gold, and consequently a thriving small-scale mineral industry, has existed in Butembo for many years. Samples of licorice clay to the north have tested positive for copper – this is interpreted as a positive indicator of a northern extension of the Butembo deposit.
"The artisanal and first-phase exploration pits around the floodplain of the Talihya River, which crosses the concession, were tested over an initial length of 500 m – and the results were positive, with one of these analyses reporting the 18% copper mentioned above, as well as 16.3% in another exploration pit," the American company AFDG, now Copper Intelligence, stated, indicating that the mineralization is structurally controlled, occurring along shear zones and folds that facilitate the flow of hydrothermal fluids. "The primary minerals in the ore include chalcopyrite, pyrite, and linneite, forming massive sulfide lenses and disseminated zones."
The company that acquired the copper exploration/mining license in Butembo is listed on the US stock exchange, but the owners of the copper fields in Bashu, where this exploration is being conducted, have not yet been compensated.
The combined company, Copper_Intelligence, formerly African Discovery Group, which purchased the license from GrabenMining, has announced that it has become the first independent company in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be listed on the US stock exchange.
However, reports from civil society organizations in the #Beni territory, specifically in the #Bashu chiefdom where the exploration fields for this recently discovered copper are located, are outraged by the work already underway in this region without involving the local population, the landowners. According to documents from these organizations, several mining activities are carried out by teams from SAEMAPE [Service for Assistance and Support of Small-Scale Artisanal Mining] from the city of
Butembo, accompanying mining operators supervised by Caucasians, but not involving locals.
This exploitation of the copper discovered in the Butembo region of North Kivu has reached a new stage with the announcement by the American company African Discovery Group (AFDG) of the signing of a definitive sale and purchase agreement (SPA) concerning the Butembo Copper Asset in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company also indicates that it is operating under a new name, Copper Intelligence, Inc. This transaction is part of the strengthened economic cooperation between Kinshasa and Washington, concluded on the sidelines of a roundtable on strategic minerals held in Washington, D.C., which was attended by several political leaders and stakeholders in the critical resources sector.
The exploration license for this still largely untapped deposit was previously held by Graben Mining, whose exploration areas are located primarily in the Bashu region of Beni territory. According to the scientific data consulted, the initial results related to the presence of copper in this area are encouraging and confirm the site's potential. This discovery is now attracting the attention of international stakeholders in a global context marked by strong demand for strategic minerals, essential in particular for the technology and energy industries.
On the ground, however, concerns persist regarding the governance and local impact of this new mining activity. In Beni, activist Sadam Patanguli has been denouncing for several years what he considers a lack of transparency in the research and the initial artisanal mining operations observed in villages such as Kavasewa, Kitheghe, and Kathihu. He asserts that some operations are evading tax payments and failing to adequately integrate local labor, fearing that this situation will further fuel insecurity in a region already weakened by the past presence of armed groups, notably the ADF, historically active in the Bashu area.
